Former police officer Walter Budzyn is to be sentenced for an involuntary
manslaughter conviction in the November 1992 beating death of motorist Malice
Green in Detroit.

The World Grits Fest kicks off in St. George, South Carolina.

On the horizon

On Saturday, April 18, the National Football League draft begins.

On Sunday, April 19, the Third Big Stinkin' International Improv and Sketch
Comedy Festival opens in Austin, Texas.

On Monday, April 20, the U.S. Senate returns from spring recess.

On Tuesday, April 21, the United States and North Korea begin the first of five
joint operations to recover remains of U.S. servicemen lost during the Korean
War.

Wednesday, April 22, is Earth Day.

On this day

In 1194, the second coronation of King Richard I of England took place upon his
return from the Third Crusade.

In 1421, the sea broke through the dikes at Dort in the Netherlands, drowning
more than 100,000 people.

In 1492, Christopher Columbus received a commission from the Spanish monarchy to
explore the "western ocean."

In 1521, Cardinal Aleander, the papal nuncio, cross-examined Martin Luther at the
Diet of Worms over his beliefs and the views on the Catholic Church.

In 1555, the city of Siena surrendered to Philip of Spain after a lengthy famine.
He later sold Siena to Cosimo de Medici.

In 1711, Joseph I, Holy Roman emperor, died and was succeeded by his brother,
Charles VI.

In 1790, Benjamin Franklin, U.S. scientist and statesman, died. He carried out
major research into electricity but is famed for helping to frame the
Declaration of Independence.

In 1864, in the Schleswig Holstein-Prussian War, 16,000 Prussians under Prince
Frederick Charles stormed the fortress at Dueppel held by 22,000 Danes. More than
5,500 Danes died in the attack.

In 1894, Nikita Khrushchev, Soviet leader from 1958 to 1964, was born.

In 1895, the Sino-Japanese War ended with the Treaty of Shimonoseki, whereby
China and Japan recognized Korea's independence and China ceded Formosa to Japan.

In 1916, Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Sri Lankan stateswoman, was born. In July 1960,
she became the world's first woman prime minister.

In 1941, the entire Yugoslav army and government surrendered to the Germans in
Belgrade.

In 1944, in Italy, Marshal Pietro Badoglio's Cabinet resigned, and he was invited
to form a new government.

In 1957, Archbishop Makarios of Cyprus arrived in Athens after a 13-month
exile in the Seychelles.

In 1960, U.S. rock star Eddie Cochran died in a car crash while on tour with Gene
Vincent in Britain.

In 1961, an attempt to invade Cuba by U.S.-backed Cuban exiles failed
at the Bay of Pigs. The three-day battle left 100 killed and more than 1,000
captured.

In 1969, Alexander Dubcek resigned as Czechoslovak Communist party leader and was
replaced by Gustav Husak.

In 1969, Sirhan B. Sirhan was found guilty of the first-degree murder of Robert
F. Kennedy, shot while campaigning in California in June 1968.

In 1970, the U.S. spacecraft Apollo 13 splashed down after a near-disastrous trip
to the moon.

In 1977, women voted in Liechtenstein for the first time.

In 1981, Polish farmers won the legal right to form a trade union.

In 1985, Lebanese Prime Minister Rashid Karami resigned in protest over Druze
militia attacks in West Beirut. He stayed on in a caretaker capacity.

In 1986, British journalist John McCarthy was kidnapped in Beirut. He was
released in August 1991, by the Islamic Jihad. Also on this day, Britons
Philip Padfield, John Leigh Douglas and American Peter Kilburn were found shot
dead. The pro-Libyan Revolutionary Cells said it killed them in retaliation for
the U.S. bombing of Libya.

In 1989, the Polish trade union Solidarity was legalized after a seven-year ban.

In 1993, Turgut Ozal, president of Turkey from 1989, died of a heart attack.

In 1996, police gunned down 19 landless peasants in one of Brazil's bloodiest
massacres.

In 1996, U.S. President Bill Clinton and Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro
Hashimoto signed a joint declaration on security cooperation that pledges to
maintain U.S. military force levels in both Japan and elsewhere in Asia.

In 1997, former Israeli President Chaim Herzog, who defended the Jewish state on the battlefield,
chronicled its history and championed its cause at the United Nations, died. He
was 78.

Newslink

On this day in 1975, Khmer Rouge guerrillas began a reign of terror in Cambodia
in which more than one million people died. Read more about the tragic history of
the "Killing Fields" and the Khmer Rouge leader, Pol Pot, who was reported dead
Wednesday. Check out Beauty and Darkness: Cambodia in Modern History.